When Notre Dame College announced on March 4 it was closing its doors after the spring semester, Hiram College was one of several universities that offered spots for the student transfers. As Hiram prepares for the 2024-25 school year, its incoming transfer class will be dominated by former Notre Dame students.
“It is clear that Notre Dame has a really strong sense of community and something we thought with institution type and size and community, that we thought we were a viable option,” Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Jana Willan told The Weekly Villager on June 18. “We made sure we were accepting of those transfer students.”
According to Willan, this will be one of the largest transfer classes that Hiram has accepted in her ten years at the college. Approximately 50% of the transfer class is solely coming from the now-defunct Notre Dame, with 27 students having been accepted so far.
“It is a large amount of work, but the institution has really spread out through athletics, student-affairs, registrars, academic advising and everyone has been really all hands-on-deck to help all of these students out,” said Willan. “It is a huge list but the fact that everyone on campus is helping students has really lessened the impact on just our office.”
Willan added that transfer applications have not ceased, with several other students having applied to transfer to Hiram. In addition to being a similar class size as Notre Dame, Hiram also offers many of the same core courses that Notre Dame offered. Willan acknowledged that there are a few courses that Hiram does not have but some of their teach-out partners, schools that entered into agreements with Hiram that offer the courses that are not available at Hiram, offer those classes which would allow students to continue pursuing their degree while still attending Hiram. Through course waivers or independent studies, these agreements ensure that students can still reach their expected graduation date without any delay.
Willan added that Hiram is also adding a few new upper-level classes to support the larger number of students.
Willan noted that what made Hiram stand out as a natural fit for students to transfer was having similar core values as Notre Dame.
“It is a very similar type of institution,” she said. “They are Catholic and we are not but that is really the only difference as far as I am concerned. It will be a tough transition for these students because they have been through the trauma of having a closure and so we are doing everything we can to support them and help them be successful.”
In terms of housing, Willan said that the college will assign some of the transfer students to be roommates with students who were living in a dorm by themselves and will also add a few new floors to help accommodate this large transfer class.
Of the 27 students who have currently been accepted as transfer students to Hiram, 14 of them are student-athletes seeking to continue their collegiate athletic careers with the baseball team and cross-country team being the biggest beneficiaries so far.
“Athletics have been instrumental in Notre Dame profits and the recruitment process,” Willan said. “It has been absolutely fantastic seeing these coaches work with these students and get them on the teams and get them worked into the rosters.”
When Notre Dame first announced it would be closing after spring classes, Willan said that Hiram was originally one of nine schools that offered students the chance to transfer their credits. When Hiram attended a transfer fair at Notre Dame later in March, the number of universities offering transfer spots had increased to 17.
“We know that only 40% of students at a closed intuition will end up enrolling at another which is a really low percentage so we are doing everything we can to try and help get as many students the degree they were planning to get in the timeframe that they were trying to get it,” Willan said.
While it has been a huge undertaking for Hiram to accept a larger transfer class for this year, Willan said that that amount of support from nearby schools in the Northeast Ohio area has been pleasant to see.
“It is more about student-choice and just allowing the students that have been through a traumatic experience to have as many options as possible to finish out,” she said. “While there would be a lot of considerations, the students in our community can get access to completion and higher education at institutions.”
